After a pair of ultra flat games against Carolina to start the preseason, the Lightning youth roared to life tonight in the First Period against a veteran NHL'er-laden Predators lineup to get the 3-0 lead and never look back. Kudos to the Lightning after a performance so bad in Carolina, I didn't write a story about it (actually, a full and complete box score was never published with correct goaltender statistics, so there's that).

Mathieu Joseph was +2 with 2 penalty minutes and 5 shots in 16:49. He's having a pretty good preseason. Knocking on the door.

Slater Koekkoek was +5(!) with 1 hit and 2 blocked shots in 20:10 of duty. Dare we dream this is the year for Slater?

Erne, 6-foot-1, 214 pounds, played in 23 games with the Lightning last season, recording three goals and four points. He also appeared in 41 games with Tampa Bay’s top affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch of the American Hockey League, notching 12 goals and 26 points with a plus-4 rating.

The New Haven, Connecticut native has played in 49 career NHL games, all with Tampa Bay, since 2016, registering six goals and seven points. He has logged 150 career AHL games, all with the Crunch and scored 41 goals with 88 points. Erne has played in 22 career Calder Cup Playoff games, all in 2017, recording three goals and 10 points.

Erne was drafted by the Lightning in the second round, 33rd overall, of the 2013 NHL Draft.

The deadline for NHL clubs to issue offers is at 5 p.m. today. By issuing qualifying offers to the aforementioned players, the Lightning are given the right of first refusal or draft choice compensation should the player sign an offer sheet with another NHL club.

The Lightning did not issue a qualifying offer to forward Alex Gallant.

The Lightning got outshot 35-20 in their own barn by a young team that had nothing to play for but pride. 35-20? Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard. Yeah, I guess Stamkos out day-to-day hurts the continuity, but c'mon. 35-20?

Now the scene turns to a high-stakes battle for control of the division against Boston on Thursday with the Lightning looking extremely mortal over the past couple of weeks. Put up or shut up time is fast approaching.